ok guys I'm looking to upgrade the OEM speakers, here is what I have - 09 Base C6 (non-bose speakers) Head unit -Kenwood DNX 6180, Hertz EP-5 Amp with a 10 in JL Sub nicely concealed. I have a complete heat/sound deadening kit to install so I figured it's time to change out the OEM speakers, recommendations? thanks
Steve
ok, also need to clarify what size speakers I have and where,
Doors, looks like a bass speaker (5 1/4" inch?) and a small tweet above it (3 1/2"?)
rear panel, are these 5 1/4"?
do I have a speaker in the dash? 3 1/2"?

 

If it's the OEM setup, you'll have a 10" speaker in the door, with a 3.5" speaker above it. Most people use a 6.5" component set. You'll need some mounting plates to put the 6.5" driver where the 10" was, and another to mount the tweeter where e 3.5" was. A couple of forum vendors sell them, or you can make them yourself.

I actually went with an 8" mid-bass driver, and a 4" 2-way speaker in the 3.5" location. The 8" has to be fairly thin (Morel or Dynaudio drivers work well). Ideal would have been the 8", a 4" mid, and a tweeter mounted in the A-pillars, but I wanted everything concealed.

There's also a 3.5" in the dash. Depending on if you're adding any additional sound processIng (5.1 capable?), you may or may not want to use the dash location.

 

any pics of ur setup... curiout what 4" did you go with for upper mount and how was mounting it

 

WAwatchnut, how does your system sound? Can you compare it to the typical 6.5" + tweeter component setup?

I have Polk audio mm6501 components in the doors. I am not using rear speakers or a center channel.

I have a detailed thread regarding my install with pics (including deadening and heat insulation) posted in this sub forum.

 

Sorry VetteNGT500 - don't mean to hijack your thread...

I went with some old school (UK made) MB Quart speakers. First try I used the separate 8", 4" and 1" drivers from their Q Series. I had the tweeter mounted at the top of the woofer grill, aimed at a 60 degree angle. Unfortunately there was too much blockage of the high frequencies in that location. I figured the brightness of the titanium dome tweeters would overcome that, but it just didn't work. I was able to find a pair of the 4" co-axial mounted drivers (QM-100), and put those in, and that resolved most of the issues.

I built up the door panel to mount the 4" speaker. Used a 1/2" and 3/4" MDF panel. The 1/2" panel was cut to fit in the indented contours of the door, and then the 3/4" panel was glued to that and mounted on the door. On the door panel, I cut off the 3.5" mounting tabs (the tabs on the driver side were broken by the factory anyway), and then I glued some sound absorbing foam to the panel to fill in the gap between the panel and the front of the speaker - this fully seperates the front and rear of the 4" driver.

The staging is a little low, and with the windows up, the high end gets a little harsh from the reflections. But with the top off and the windows down a few inches (which is how I have the car 75% of the time)... it sounds great!

If I were using silk dome tweeters, I'd probably mount them in the A-pillars, but I really like not having anything showing.

I thought I had taken more pics, but I only have pics with the original 4" driver installed:

 

The system sounds great. For me, the problem with the 6.5" components is the staging of vocals - the image is drawn lower, and there is definitely some blockage from driver/passenger's legs. With the 4", I can cross the mid/woofer over at 200hz, driving most of the vocals out of the 4", and the 8" can produce LOTS of punch. I have the 8"s and 4"s running off of separate amplifier channels, so I can drive enough power to the 8"s, and not have the vocals sound overly boomy.

I've done pretty much the full deadening and sound/heat insulation also. Need to take the seats out to complete the job (and get the seat skins changed), but that will have to wait until the winter. It's definitely a big help in the C6.

 

Is the 6180 already installed, or is that going in with the speakers?

You have a center speaker in the dash, most likely it isn't being used with an aftermarket radio.

Since you already have a 5-channel amp, I'd suggest removing all of the bose speakers and installing all aftermarkets. Do what you like, but the most common is 6.5" front components. Rears are up to you, if you don't install them you can bridge the amp to get more power up front. Or possibly use the HU internal amp to power rears for a bit of fill (if you do that you can actually use stock speakers).

C6 schematics are HERE, verify your RPO in the glove box, but yours is probably U66. Once you replace the radio, oem prints are pretty much useless.

 

haha, no worries, I'm learning stuff, I think I am going to go with some higher quality in the doors, and disconnect the dash and probably not use the ones in the rear either, the EP 5 amp can easily push some quality component speaker in the doors and the sub, so it looks like I need to decide on a good 6.5 in component set with tweets and I need mounting plates for both, thanks.

I ordered the plates from southerncar parts. made of resin, not bad for 50....now...to the speakers......
thinking about these....Boston Acoustics Pro60 SE - where would I mount the crossovers? sure hope there are good instructions on hooking all this stuff up... I got a price from a shop.....over a grand.....I'm not paying that, this can't be too hard....
any of you audio-philes feel lik a trip to colorado springs? I'll supply the beer.. lol

 

my install with lots of pics: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/audi...rade-pics.html

the crossovers are mounted in a cavity above the passenger footwell (pics included).

 

that is a great post, my laptop will be my friend when I do this, I also have the madvette kit with the front and rear premium layer, I should have everything I need in a few weeks, including an inexpensive trim removal tool kit, hopefully I can resist the urge to start this until the winter..... cheers.

 

I used Hybrid Audio L6 SE's and L3 SE's to replace the Bose speakers in the doors. The L3 SE's are slightly larger diameter than the 3" diameter stock speakers. It was an easy fix to mount them using the stock mounting locations. Also have a 10" woofer in the trunk (vert).

I used an Arc Audio KS125 4 channel amp mounted in the Bose amp location. Had the KS125 amp modified for active filters (i.e. no separate crossovers). Each channel is driving one speaker. I installed an Arc Audio XEQ equalizer that I mounted in the glove box. The sub amp is mounted on a purpose built mount that sits behind the waterfall.

Contemplating adding a KS125 mini 2 channel amp to drive two 5" diameter mid/woofers in the rear speaker locations. Hybrid Audio has a L4 speaker that would fit perfectly.

2010 GS, stock Nav.

I followed Kedar's post closely doing my sound deadening install. One change I made was not to fasten the Ensolite closed cell foam directly to the car. Instead I adhered the foam to the VetteNuts insulation. This way, if I had to, it would be easy to work on the covered areas of the car.

When you take the 10" Bose out you will notice a foam water drip shield around them. I made drip shields for the L6 SE's using 2 Glad disposable plastic bowls. They were about 8" square. Cut the bottom out leaving a small flat which I screwed and silicon RTV'ed to the speaker mount plates. Also cut them to height to clear the window (2.62" I believe).

I have pictures of the amp mounts and water drip shields. Also have dimensioned detailed drawings of the amp mounts.

 

I have s very similar setup as the post above...Arc 125.4 and the Hybrid Audio speakers are the best I have heard...Using the 125.4 for the fronts bi-amped...I left the stock rears in as fill from the HU...I have the L6SE's and L3SE's and also added Hybrid Audio L1 Pro R2 tweets....The tweets aren't installed yet but using ID tweets until then...It sounds spectacular...
Call Rick McCallum RAAMaudio on the forum here and he will hook you up with everything you need...He has great pricing for full packages and his sound deadening is the best...

Scott